


Barren Night

by Marmeladeskies



Series: A Series of Random Mighty Nein Moments because these Kids Deserve Happiness and Attention [9]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas fic, Fluff, Friendship, Winter, barren night, festive, german christmas market, happiness, holiday fic, mentions of delicious food, or shall I say, zemnian christmas market
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21933040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marmeladeskies/pseuds/Marmeladeskies
Summary: Caleb takes his friends to a zemnian market for Barren Night.(the CR christmas fic I've been writing for months now)
Relationships: The Mighty Nein & Caleb Widogast
Series: A Series of Random Mighty Nein Moments because these Kids Deserve Happiness and Attention [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1491140
Comments: 13
Kudos: 127





	Barren Night

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this written for months now and a few days before I want to post it, Matt mentions that Wildemount celebrates Barren Night instead of Winter's Crest and kicks over all of my plans lmao. 
> 
> **Happy Holidays to all of you, no matter how you celebrate them. May you have peace and good food and time with the ones you love (even if they're fictional). ❤**

“Caleb, this is beautiful!” 

Jester spun on her heels, utterly taken by all the sparkling lights around her that reflected in her eyes. 

Caleb couldn’t put his feelings into words right now- this mixture of childhood memories, the absolute comfort of a tradition he’d known his entire life, mixed with his merry group of friends carrying his new memories with them- 

Whatever it was… it was good. 

He smiled as Jester spun again, sniffing the air. “It smells  _ delicious  _ here!”, she exclaimed with joy, “Can we try  _ all  _ the food?” 

“I’m very in favor of that.”, Caduceus added to that in his slow, mellow voice. 

“Can we get drinks first, though?”, Beau asked. She was wrapped in a Cobalt Soul colored leather coat with white fur lining that made her stand out between all the Zemnians- making her look almost as foreign as Jester, Fjord… well, anyone but Caleb, really. They were drawing strange looks, but Caleb could honestly say that he didn’t care for once. 

“Drinks actually sound perfect right now.”, Fjord agreed- he had his arms wrapped around himself, hands stuck under his armpits for warmth. Caleb made a mental note to drag him off to a booth that sold gloves later. “Nott, come on! We’re getting drinks! Where is she?”

“Over there.” Caduceus pointed his staff in the direction of a nearby booth that sold what looked like little wooden toys- dolls, horses, figurines and more. Nott- disguised as her halfling form- was in the process of examining the wares and actually making conversation with the vendor. The man was talking to her in broken common as she picked up a little wooden model of a ship, examining it with her head cocked.

“...I’ll get her.”, Caleb told the others. 

His hand on Nott’s shoulder didn’t startle her, she merely looked up with a small smile on her lips. 

“...I was thinking, for Luc.” She held up the wooden ship. It was painted blue and white and looked surprisingly functional up close. 

Caleb smiled down at her. “I think he’d like that.”

“...I feel like Yeza will end up getting mad at me if I only bring Luc crossbow bolts as gifts.” 

Caleb laughed. “...or blink dogs.” 

The vendor, having watched their exchange with a friendly smile that probably meant he hadn’t understood half of it, piped up in a very heavy zemnian accent. “It actually… it… ähm…” He was clearly looking for the right word.

“Was kann es?”, Caleb intercepted in zemnian with a polite smile- the relief on the man’s face was that of a person who had probably not enjoyed learning Common in school.

“Es schwimmt sogar, wenn man es ins Wasser setzt, wie ein echtes Schiff.”, the vendor explained proudly, and Caleb translated for Nott: “It floats on water, like a real ship.”

“Sold.”, Nott said. 

After they’d made their transaction and Nott left the booth with a wooden ship wrapped in cloth and a little smile on her face, they joined the others again- Jester had meanwhile started bouncing up and down with excitement, barely able to wait for them.

“Now. Drinks?”, Caleb asked.

“Drinks!”, the others echoed. 

  
  


A little while later, they were squeezed in a small alcove, sheltered from the worst of the cold by improvised wooden walls between the different booths, all of them with steaming mugs cradled in their hands. 

“Tell me again what it’s called?”, Beau asked, inhaling the steam coming from her mug with a content expression on her face. 

“Glühwein.”, Caleb explained, “Basically, mulled wine. Jester and Caduceus, yours is called Kinderpunsch.” 

“It smells so goooooood!”, Jester hummed, her eyes closed, a happy smile on her face that warmed Caleb’s heart more than any warm beverage every could. 

“I think my fingers are thawing.”, Fjord commented, hands snugly wrapped around his mug. 

“Port Damali boy, should’ve brought some warmer clothes.”, Beau teased, snuggling her fur coat a little higher. Fjord flipped her off, making her snort with laughter. 

“She’s right, Fjord, we should really get some warm clothes for you.”, Jester agreed, and Caduceus added, “Something knitted, maybe.”

Caleb couldn’t help but laugh- the mental image of Fjord, their regal, charismatic Paladin, in a scratchy knitted jumper was too hilarious. 

“In my clan, we used to wear dire wolf skins for warmth when it was cold.”, Yasha supplied in her quiet voice, “I think that would suit you very well, Fjord.” 

Fjord blinked at her slowly, and then said, “...I think I’m good with some wool.”

The market started to fill more and more as time went on, but they were comfortably nestled into their little nook, able to watch people go by and enjoy the general festive bustle of it all while they sipped their drinks. 

The enchanted fairy lights in the trees and the torches along the way dipped everything in soft, orange light, and there was music coming from somewhere behind them. 

The Glühwein was nice and strong, and, being hot, went into Caleb’s head quicker than ale usually did. He didn’t like being drunk much, but this felt different. The familiar surrounding, his friends close by, talking and joking and recounting the happier tales of their adventures… it filled Caleb with a nostalgic, deep-set happiness. It was a feeling that had sat on the shelf of his mind for too long, and now he was slowly dusting it off, getting familiar with it again. 

“Caleb?” Nott’s voice was quiet against their friends’ laughter when she took his hand. “Are you alright?”

Caleb nodded, a small smile on his face. “...I’m alright. Very alright.”

“That’s good.” She leaned against his leg for just a moment, mirroring his smile, before letting go again. 

They got enormous amounts of food (fried bread with ramson and butter, fried mushrooms with spicy sauce, pork sandwiches, fried dough topped with cheese and spices and potato noodles with Sauerkraut- which elicited wildly different reactions from Caleb’s friends) and more drinks, and eventually -after Jester and Nott had inspected every booth and Fjord had finally acquired some gloves and, to everyone’s delight, a scarf- some dessert. They found a spot around one of the many campfires, and settled down with another round of wine.

“I want to live here forever and never leave!” Jester looked like she was going to ascend into different realms any minute now, sugary crumbs stuck to the corners of her mouth, cinnamon waffle in one hand and chocolate pancake in the other. 

“I don’t think your mother would be very happy with that.”, Caleb commented, but the smile that had found its way onto his face a few hours before was still there. Jester cocked her head like she was considering that, and then sighed. 

“Maybe we can get a Zemnian cookbook.”, Caduceus suggested, and Jester’s expression immediately lit up again. 

As they talked the possible benefits of integrating more Zemnian food into Caduceus’ cooking, Beau sidled over to Caleb, bumping her shoulder against his. 

“...hey, ...uh… thank you for sharing this with us. It’s been a really nice evening. I never thought Barren Night could be this...” She looked over her shoulder for a moment, taking in all the people eating, drinking, laughing and talking together, “...cheerful and festive. My parents always really emphasized the, y’know, ‘remember the fallen’ part of it.” 

“I’m really glad you are all enjoying it so much.”, Caleb admitted. “I guess Zemnians honor the fallen by drinking and being with friends, thinking of the dead in happiness rather than to fall into mourning every year.” He looked down to where his hands were wrapped around his mug. A few scars peaked out from under his sleeve. 

Beau gave him a lopsided, small smile and held out her little bag of candied almonds towards him. Caleb took one. She bumped her shoulder against his as gently as she could and then said: “I think that’s a great way to honor the dead. Cheers.”

She raised her mug to his, and he bumped his against it. 

“Prost.”, Caleb replied, and they drank together. 

-

When it was fully dark and the night had engulfed the market, Caleb felt himself become excited, the same way he had as a little boy. It was a strange, heady sensation, enhanced by the Glühwein in his system.

His friends, stuffed as they were with food, didn’t argue when he told them that they’d have to find a good spot - “A good spot for  _ what _ ?!” “You’ll see!” - and followed him freely. They had a bit of a hard time squeezing through the crowd, especially Caduceus, Yaha and Fjord, tall as they were, but eventually found huddled together in a sea of humans, all of them looking toward a small wooden stage set up right in the middle of the market (well, some were looking at them. A lot, actually. Caduceus and Jester waved at anyone who did, which was very entertaining, though).

“What are we waiting for?”, Beau asked, but right that second, the music started- horns, then flutes, followed by a high-pitched fiddle. The melody was familiar, and Caleb closed his eyes for a second. 

A little “Oh!” from Jester made him open them again a moment later, though- the choir had stepped onto the stage. Red-cheeked zemnian women, their pale hair in braids, tall, sturdy men, hair shorn short, many with impressive beards. Caleb remembered wondering if he’d ever grow a beard this thick as a child. 

The music cut out, and then, after a brief pause, the choir’s voices rose, slow, building, interweaving until they built a beautiful landscape of music. 

It was an old zemnian folk song about the Barren Night, describing first the loss of many lives, followed by praise for the people who died protecting others. Caleb resisted the urge to hum along because it was so familiar. 

The high notes actually gave him goosebumps that ran down his spine and made him shudder.

He remembered his mother singing this song with him, neither of them hitting the notes this well, just spending time together as she taught him the customs of their people. His heart felt heavy as he thought of her, how she had sung to him, stroking his hair, the way she fixed his clothes before they’d gone out together to meet his father at the market. Caleb remembered running into his arms as a small child, his father, still in his uniform from work, picking him up, spinning him around, his beard against Caleb’s cheek as he kissed him. 

_ “...nun lasset uns feiern dieses Leben, _

_ das die Götter uns gegeben.  _

_ Mit Liebe, Mut und Herzlichkeit _

_ steh’n wir zusammen in dieser Zeit.”  _

Caleb had always liked the last verse of the song best, because it was an appeal to the survivors to stick together, to support each other and love each other. For a long time, he hadn’t thought it possible that his pain would subside eventually, that there would be people who were enough to pick him up, and that those people would love him. 

Now, he knew better. 

-

When they were walking back to the Inn they were staying at later, Jester and Nott were still singing the songs from the choir, cheerfully butchering the zemnian words and messing up the melody as they swayed and danced their way down the street. 

Caleb felt deeply content inside, and also a little drunk. 

Slowly, it started to snow. Big, picturesque snowflakes fell from the black sky, sticking to everyone’s hair before melting. Caleb tipped back his head, and let them land on his cheekbones. In front of them, Jester and Nott’s singing merged into “The Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever”, and he smiled. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave some kudos or a comment to make a writer happy :)


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